Luxury Room, Garden View, Twin Bed

Two single beds, held from the moment you book rather than asked for at the desk. Every other room on the island faces the lake. This one faces the court.

What you get instead is the building. The window looks down onto the lily pond and the marble court, where the fountain runs all day and a musician sits by the water at dusk, with bougainvillea over the arch opposite. It is the quieter side by some margin, and in May, when the lake face takes the afternoon sun full on, it is several degrees cooler.

It is 21 square metres, the smallest room in the palace. Take it because being on the island is what you came for — the 4-minute crossing, the courts at 6 in the morning before anyone is up, dinner under the painted lotus — and accept that seeing the water means walking 20 steps to a terrace.